About Me

My name is Neel Menon. I'm 17 years old.

 

Since I was around 7 years old—when I watched Star Wars for the first time—I’ve been simply obsessed with film. While Star Wars is perhaps not the greatest film ever created, or even my biggest stylistic influence, it was the one picture that convinced me that cinema was the art of all arts, the ultimate form of expression. I started with stop motion, iPad-VFX experiments and fan films, trying to replicate that same magic. Since then, I have attempted films of all forms, such as experimental films, comedy, Indian parallel and documentaries, but have approached everything with the same passion as my Star Wars days.

 

A feature of all my films so far has been an element of social commentary. Growing up in a household where political discourse and discussion is so heavily encouraged, I have found it only natural for my views to seep into my work, whether it be about the Indian Patriarchy (Girls Should Stay at Home), Government Censorship and The Erasure of History (EGGS & ZERO), Food Wastage or Illiteracy (The Bag). I believe that film is not only an excellent vessel of creative expression, but of social messaging. The complexity of film as an art (in that it combines all other arts) works perfectly to match the complexity of the messages it attempts to express.